Blackface/KKK photo poses difficult questions. If the Democrat has something to contribute, he can best do so from the private sector: Our view

As Ralph Northam rose through Democratic politics in Virginia to reach the governor’s mansion, he harbored an explosive secret from his past: a racist photograph on his page in a 1984 medical school yearbook.

On Saturday, he reversed course, saying he doesn’t think he’s one of the people in the photo, though he acknowledged blackening his face that same year for a Michael Jackson impersonation.

And as of Sunday afternoon, Northam continued clinging to the job to which he was elected in 2017, even as the bipartisan clamor for his resignation grew louder.

It’s true that Northam has had a commendable record on race relations. You don’t have to sympathize with him to have qualms about today’s off-with-his-head Twitter mobs. And “zero tolerance” policies, whether they apply to schoolchildren or politicians, tend to result in zero common sense.

But with his unconvincing explanations about this inexplicable image, Northam has lost his moral authority to serve as governor, particularly of a state with a tortured racial past that served as capital of the Confederacy.

Whether or not Northam was one of the people in the photo, he was old enough to know better than to be associated with it in any way. He wasn’t in high school. He wasn’t a college undergraduate. He was graduating from medical school.

Nor was this 1864 or even 1964. It was 1984, well past the civil rights era and not long before Doug Wilder became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Virginia.

Northam had many years to try to get out ahead of the story before it blew up in his face but apparently chose not to level with voters. His reluctance, of course, was understandable. It’s hard to imagine a more racially offensive image, unless the photo also included someone dressed as an SS officer giving a Nazi salute.

The KKK, if anyone needs reminding, is a homegrown hate group responsible for lynchings, church bombings, cross burnings and other violence against blacks and Jews. Through much of U.S. history, blackface has been used to mock, denigrate, stereotype and disrespect African-Americans. There is nothing remotely amusing about the yearbook photo.

Going forward, the Northam case is fodder for several difficult questions.

About where youthful indiscretion ends and adult accountability begins. About why reporters and opposition researchers never turned up the photo until now. About the fate of monuments honoring the Confederacy.

About Democrats who made a former KKK officer, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, their Senate leader in the 1970s and 1980s. About Republicans quick to condemn Northam but who give President Donald Trump a pass for racist rhetoric and actions.

These are important conversations to have. If Ralph Northam has something to contribute, he can best do so from the private sector.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.